Olympic Games - Second Round

Hi everyone,

The second round was over in a jiffy; they had to speed things up after the rain so the complete round was finished in a day and a half.

There were no major surprises in this round. Venus and Serena Williams, Kerber and Azarenka cruised through their second round. The only one I thought was going to go further was Pironkova. She lost to Pennetta in two sets: 7-5, 6-1. Goerges, the Radwanska killer, continued her great form in the second round by winning against Lepchenko: 6-3, 7-5. Zvonareva seems to rise to the occassion here at the Olympics by producing a solid win against Schiavone: 6-3, 6-3.

My personal favorite match was Wozniacki against Wickmayer. Not only because you can say Wozzy is playing Wicky (sounds like a child's program!) but also because of the quality of the match. The Dane took the first set 6-4 but the Belgian replied with a second set win with 6-3. In the third set, Wickmayer tried everything to undo an early break. Their fifth game (at 3-1 for Wozniacki) lasted at least 15 minutes and surpassed the 17 deuce mark. You could feel the importance of this game that eventually went to Wozniacki. Wickmayer still gave it everything she had, but the Dane smelled the victory and took the third set: 6-3.

So one Belgian is out, but Clijsters got through her second round match against Suarez Navarro, the one who outplayed Stosur, with: 6-3, 6-3.

Three British players fell this round: Baltacha against Ivanovic with 4-6, 6-7, Robson lost to Sharapova in two sets: 6-7, 3-6 and Watson against Kirilenko: 3-6, 2-6.

The eight mash-ups in the third round include:
- Azarenka vs. Petrova = normally the number one should win this but maybe Petrova will make her break a sweat this time
- Venus Williams vs. Kerber = power against power, should get interesting!
- Serena Williams vs. Zvonareva = their head to head may be 6-3 but I don't see how the Russian can break down the strong American mental power this time
- Hantuchova vs. Wozniacki = long time since I've seen Hantuchova this far in a tournament so my guess is, she won't go any further than this
- Clijsters vs. Ivanovic = certainly the match where I will pull out my hair, bite off my nails and sweat like a pig because of the excitement
- Lisicki vs. Sharapova = this match has the potential of a long and hard threesetter but I personally think Lisicki isn't in the best form to threaten Sharapova
- Kvitova vs. Pennetta = the Czech needed three sets in every round so maybe Pennetta has a chance of doing the same
- Kirilenko vs. Goerges = this side of the draw opens up with the defeat of Radwanska so who knows what will come out of this!

Keep posted!

Olympic Games - First Round

Hi everyone,

It was a magnificent first round of tennis at the first three days of the Olympic Games. It's a bit of a shame they don't have such good live scoring like in Grand Slams but I'll survive (with just a little frustration). Also the rain made it impossible for all the matches to be played in two days.

With such a packed draw, it's not really a surprise there were going to fall some high ranked players in the first round. But of course, very typically, the first one had to be Stosur again. Why Sammy do you do this to me, your biggest fan?! ... Too theatrical?

She lost in a close match against the Spanish Suarez Navarro: 6-3, 5-7, 8-10. The Australian isn't very good on grass, but it's also not Suarez Navarro's best surface so it's quite disappointing. I would have loved a set-up against Kim Clijsters in the second round!

But the biggest upset was yet to come! Radwanska lost to Goerges in the first round in a very tight match: 5-7, 7-6, 4-6. This is the number two, the one who got to the final of Wimbledon not a month ago! She looked without that same determination and the German profited in an excellent manner. Still, that means I'm two personal favorites down already in the first round (go Clijsters!).
Na Li is also out, she couldn't win against Hantuchova: 2-6, 6-3, 3-6.

There were quite some players who needed three sets to get to the second round.

Schiavone won with: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against Zakopalova. Also Kvitova with 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 against Bondarenko. Wozniacki knocked her way past the British Keothavong: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The number one Azarenka couldn't finish her battle against Begu in two sets, but eventually won: 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

Ivanovic impressed against McHale with: 6-4, 7-5. Kim Clijsters did the same against Vinci in two sets: 6-1, 6-4. Pironkova had a tough first set against Cibulkova, winning in the tiebreak. The second set went the Bulgarian with 6-2. Pironkova is a real grass specialist, maybe she can force a big upset somewhere down the line. Venus survived her tough first round match against Errani: 6-3, 6-1.

Serena had no trouble with Jankovic: 6-3, 6-1. She'll face the younger Radwanska sister in the second round after she defeated Barthel: 6-4, 6-3. Sharapova made her intentions clear against Peer: 6-2, 6-0. The Russian is definitely here for a medal!

Keep posted!

Olympic Games - Preview & Draw

Hi everyone,

It's finally time for the Olympic Games! I'm so glad to be home and have absolutely nothing to do, so I don't have to miss a second.

Four years ago all the medals went to Russian players: gold for Dementieva (she is retired already), silver for Safina and bronze for Zvonareva. Only Zvonareva has the chance to prolong her Olympic title but there are a lot of contenders!

We'll look at the draw first, because the Olympian rules make it much more interesting than usual. The seeded players are seperated from each other like in any other tournament (so they will meet in later stages), but fellow country women are also seperated! For example the two Belgian competitors (Wickmayer and Clijsters) can only meet in the final. The four American contenders are in other quarters of the draw.

To check out the draw: click here

So who has to play in the same quarters:

- Upper draw = Azarenka, Petrova, Errani, Venus Williams and Kerber

- Upper middle draw = Serena Williams, Jankovic, Schiavone, Zvonareva, Li, Wozniacki

- Down middle draw = Stosur, Clijsters, Ivanovic, Lisicki, Sharapova

- Down draw = Kvitova, Cibulkova, Goerges, Radwanska

My prediction of the medals: gold for Serena Williams, silver for Sharapova and bronze for Azarenka. Don't shoot me if it's completely different, I myself would kill for a medal for Clijsters! Photo of Serena when winning Wimbledon shows her in a gold dress, is she confident or what?

Obviously there are a lot of interesting matches to come, so I'll just sum up for the first round:

- Venus Williams vs. Sara Errani

- Serena Williams vs. Jelena Jankovic (both William sisters get a tough opponent!)

- Mona Barthel vs. Urszula Radwanska (two coming women mash-up)

- Li vs. Hantuchova

- Clijsters vs. Vinci

- McHale vs. Ivanovic (a bit of a shame to be losing one of them in the first round already!)

- Pironkova vs. Cibulkova (a top player on grass against the winner at Carlsbad recently)

- Radwanska vs. Goerges (quite tough for the number two, will be a good wam-up to say the least!)

And who are we missing from the top 20? Bartoli (10) was excluded due to an argument with her French committee. Kaia Kanepi (16) would have been a real addition for the Estonian team, but she's sidelined due to a heel injury. Also Petkovic can't compete at this year's Olympic Games, still with her ankle injury. But that doesn't mean she's not enjoying herself by almost falling in the bushes when getting shit on by a bird:

Yesterday's opening ceremony featured two women tennis players to carry the flag of their nation. Radwanska for Poland and Sharapova for Russia!

Keep posted for some more Olympic tennis!

Update: Stanford & Carlsbad

Hi everyone,

I've missed two WTA tournaments while on vacation, so let's take a quick look at them. It's both interesting for the coming Olympics and the US Open Series to be played after that.

First up was Stanford for the Bank of the West Classic Tennis Tournament:

If you looked at the draw, there weren't much contenders for the title who could keep Serena from a second consecutive win here. Many players decided to focus on the Olympics, so we got: Serena, Wickmayer, Bartoli, Jankovic and Cibulkova as seeded players. But it was Coco Vandeweghe who made it to the final by defeating Jankovic and Wickmayer on the way. Serena took the title as expected with 7-5, 6-3.

The tournament at Carlsbad, the Merury Insurance Open, got more unpredictability. Bartoli started as number one seed and got to the final quite easy. In the down draw, Cibulkova had to overcome the powerful younger Radwanska sister and Petrova to get into the final. Cibulkova took her second title at Carlsbad by defeating Bartoli: 6-1, 7-5.

Fun on court - Rebels in white

Hi everyone,

I've learned something interesting about the Olympics that will be played at Wimbledon, they won't be in white! So we're finally going to see some color on the grassy courts in London, that's gonna be something you're going to see just once in a lifetime.

Azarenka was politely asked by the Wimbledon fashion police to change her yellow shirt to white when practicing during the Grand Slam. If you ask me that's quite drastic, considering she wasn't even competing in a real match.

Azarenka has always been somewhat of a fashion rebel, playing in shorts during the Australian Open for example. But who else was slightly giving the British people a heartattack during Wimbledon by not following the only-in-white dresscode?

Let's look at our two finalists:

Radwanska was trying to be subtle with black shorts, while Serena went with pink one and matching hairband. More obvious was Zvonareva with a colored band on her dress. And suddenly, that disappeared in her second match, fashion police mob or what?

They will have to bite their tongue because colors, here they come! Will the players get something flashy and colorful out of their closet or will they stay in quite modest white? Keep posted!

Wimbledon - Final

Hi everyone,

I'm back to blog again! So let's take a more thorough look at the Wimbledon final. I'm not exaggerating when saying nobody thought Radwanska had a shot at the title. But this was also the case when Serena lost to Stosur at the US Open.

The second game on the Radwanska serve took almost 10 minutes before Serena sealed her third breakpoint! I was surprised by Radwanska's serving and agressive play, but it was fire battling a nuclear bomb. The Pole lost her cool quite quickly, obviously nervous she couldn't grid her teeth this early already in the match.

Serena on the other hand didn't have such troubles on her own serve and cruised to a 5-0 lead in the first set. Radwanska was desperate to grab a game and did so in style after facing a 15-40 score (thus two setpoints for a bagel) with two aces, a superb dropshot and a hell of a lot of mental strength! Serena wasn't bothered by this and served out the set: 6-1.

It looked quite game over when Serena took an early break in the second set but Radwanska created breakpoints out of thin air and knocked herself to 4-4. The crowd went estatic! Serena started to produce more unforced errors and the Pole was the more patient and calm one: 7-5. It was a huge difference from the first set where Radwanska saved herself from a bagel just barely.

At 2-2 in the third set, Serena overclassed the Pole completely. She battled off a lot of break points but the American just kept them coming. After two hours Serena got her 14th Grand Slam: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. She reacted accordingly:

Radwanska was quite disappointed afterwards and had to shrug off some tears in her interview. But I actually think she has to be very proud of what she achieved. She never took a set before against Serena, so that's a great development. Can't wait for the Olympics!

Update: Blogger out!

Hi everyone,

I left for vacation saturday 7th, right on the day of the women's final! I'm now blogging with a very suspicious internet connection from Lithuania, to let you know I will be back in time for the Olympics on the holy grass of Wimbledon. 

Serena Williams won against Radwanska: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 so the Pole did her best to make it difficult for her, but Serena was unstoppable of course!

I still have some stuff to post on Wimbledon and the tournaments in America in the meantime, so definitely keep posted in a few weeks and have a great vacation yourself!

Wimbledon - Semifinal

Hi everyone,

The two semifinals couldn't be more different from each other: Kerber and Radwanska are the silent type warriors who play with a lot of slice, dropshots and finesse in contrast with Azarenka and Serena Williams, the hard hitting fighters with quite some noise.

The first match on centre court was Kerber against Radwanska. Although the German got an early lead in the first set, the Pole battled back and took the first set: 6-3. It was actually quite a typical Agi match: she was winning while Kerber made all the great points. You were wondering how she did it (like how did she ever got to the number three spot?!). In the end she really proved herself better than Kerber when taking a crucial break to take the victory: 6-3, 6-4. So it's not only the first semifinal for Radwanska, but rushes instantly to her first final.

This time it wasn't an Azarenka - Sharapova mash-up, but the Belarussian grunted loudly enough on her own and Serena isn't the most quiet of the bunch either. The crowd was happy to bring even more noise into centre court when cheering for some nicely crafted points! But nothing could compete against Serena's serving: 24 aces, no double faults, many unreturned serves and incredibly fast of course!

Azarenka grabbed on for dear life but didn't have any chance on the Serena serve. The break was inevitable and the American took the first set: 6-3.

Azarenka knew it had to get better in the second set and when she battled back from a break down to 3-3, she believed in it again. And it got tight at the end, resulting in a tiebreak. Serena fired the aces away but Azarenka kept hanging on. Williams already had the ace-record at Wimbledon in her match against Zheng with 23. She scored her 24th against Azarenka on match point: 6-3, 7-6(6) for Serena!

It's Serena's seventh final at Wimbledon and we're looking forward to her match against Radwanska! If Serena is serving as good as in her semifinal, Radwanska will have to up her game massively!

Don't forget to check the highlights of both matches: here. And don't stop checking the next posts!

Wimbledon - Quarterfinal

Hi everyone,

So, we're at the last 8 at Wimbledon. We've lost the number one Sharapova, the number five Stosur and the number seven Wozniacki. But I'm surprised there's just one not seeded player still in the draw and that's Paszek.

The Austrian couldn't pull off another upset against Azarenka, but that didn't mean she couldn't make it difficult for the number two: 3-6, (4)6-7. I'm guessing Azarenka is keen on getting the number one spot again. She will have to get past Serena Williams, who was a bit better than Kvitova: 6-3, 7-5. One break per set proved enough to defeat the reigning Wimbledon champion. I'm very pleased with an Azarenka - Serena Williams set-up, we'll see who is still fit this late in the tournament. The head to head is 7-1 in favor of Serena.

My favorite match of the quarterfinals was Lisicki against Kerber. The two German players know each other's game very well and it showed on the court. Lisicki battled match points in the second set but managed to win the set in the tiebreak. All pointed towards Lisicki winning this match: Kerber previously lost the Eastbourne final after getting match points against Paszek and Lisicki got past Na Li in the same fashion. But Kerber kept her cool this time and finished it off superb: 6-3, (7)6-7, 7-5.

The last quarterfinal featured Radwanska against Kirilenko. I must say I didn't watch any matches of the Russian so far but her performance against the number three was fabulous. It was a shame their match was constantly interrupted by the rain, so it was quite late before the 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 score appeared on the board in favor of the Pole. Yes, that's right, Radwanska is finally through to her first semifinal Grandslam! The number one spot is also up for grabs for her, but she'll have to win the tournament for it.

So, we know our four semifinalists. I'm looking forward to those matches: should be fun! Keep posted!

Wimbledon - Fourth Round

Hi everyone,

Fourth round matches are always quite intriguing: the remaining seeded players clash while some unexpected victors are hoping for a quarterfinal spot. And yes, that can lead to a surprising upset! Don't forget: they don't call it Manic Monday without a reason!

Wimbledon's fourth round proved to be the terminus for the number one. Sharapova couldn't cope with Lisicki's grass skills. I wasn't yet convinced after her weak season so far but the German proved me wrong this match. She wasn't at all impressed by Sharapova's serves, hard hitting or screams for that matter. When Lisicki lost her service game, she fought back right away with her strong deep returns. Score: 6-4, 6-3 for Lisicki!

Sharapova is now almost sure she'll lose her number one spot to Azarenka or Radwanska (that would really be something!). That picture is really too sad and does she have an orange hand?!

Azarenka absolutely crushed Ivanovic: 6-1, 6-0. Radwanska got past Giorgi: 6-2, 6-3. Paszek secured a place with the last 8 by defeating Vinci: 6-2, 6-2. The winner at Eastbourne usually gets far at Wimbledon, but tend not to win in the end. I'm guessing Paszek is happy with every round she progresses; it's been a fantastic grass season for her so far.

Kirilenko had a tough three set win over Peng: 6-1, (6)6-7, 6-3. Clijsters didn't survive the seeded-player-in-amazing-shape-test with the number eight Kerber. The German was on every level better and 6-1, 6-1 appeared on the score board in an hour. I'm not really disappointed, Kim Clijsters had a great run and a lot of players would die for a fourth round Wimbledon match! Some people have to stop thinking she's going for all or nothing; she's just enjoying her last year.

Serena Williams struggled more against Shvedova than I thought. She needed three sets to send the golden-set-winner home: 6-1, 2-6, 7-5. Serena got a lot of match time already, we'll see how she'll cope with Kvitova in the next round. The Wimbledon winner of last year defeated Schiavone: 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

To watch the highlights of each match, check here. Stay posted, more surprising tennis is destined to come!

Wimbledon - Third Round

Hi everyone,

Now we can find out who survived until the second week of Wimbledon!

Radwanska had an easy win over Britain's hope Heather Watson: 6-0, 6-2. Kvitova lost just one game to Lepchenko: 6-1, 6-0. Azarenka did it twice with 6-3 against Cepelova. The number one Sharapova is also through in two sets against Hsieh: 6-1, 6-4. She'll face Lisicki next after she got past Stephens in three sets: 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-2.

But if you really want to hear about a tough match, Serena defeated Zheng in three sets: (5)6-7, 6-2, 9-7. That's a close call! Zheng brought some excellent tennis to centre court while Serena's serve held her in the match. She was obviously very relieved as you can notice here:

Another great battle was fought between Ivanovic and Goerges. The German took the first set: 6-3 with her impressive forehand. The Serbian needed all she had to take the win in the next two sets: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Kim Clijsters faced Zvonareva in the third round. Both women are plagued by injuries this year and it was quite interesting to see them battling it out against each other. There were some nice points in the first set which Clijsters won: 6-3. In the second set, the Russian experienced breathing problems that broke the rythm of the match. Clijsters had a break lead but handed it over. After a medical time-out, Zvonareva lost her serve again and called it quits at 4-3 for Clijsters. Kim in the fourth round against Kerber!

This will be a very difficult task for the Belgian, Kerber is playing remarkable for the past few months. She got in the fourth round by defeating McHale: 6-2, 6-3. I'm still hoping for a close match with some fabulous points between those two!

The other Belgian Wickmayer just fell short against Paszek: 6-2, (4)6-7, 5-7.

And history has been written in a third round Wimbledon match! Shvedova managed to grab a golden set against non other than Errani (finalist at Roland Garros, keep that in mind!). For those who don't know what a golden set is: winning a set without losing a single point. That means no winners of your opponent, a double fault or unforced error of your own. It sounds impossible and that's why this is the first time in history this has ever happened in the women's game! What's more impressive is that Shvedova is the one who almost did it before, winning 23 points consecutive (you need 24 for a golden set) before hitting a double fault. Shvedova went on to win the match: 6-0, 6-4.

Here you can check all the points squeezed into a clip of a minute:

To sum things up, here are the fourth round matches:

- Sharapova vs. Lisicki = I'm going for the number one but secretly I hope Lisicki can pull off another great upset like she did before at Wimbledon

- Clijsters vs. Kerber

- Radwanska vs. Giorgi = will the Italian give the number three some difficulty?

- Kirilenko vs. Peng

- Serena Williams vs. Shvedova = golden set recordholder against record holder of almost all other things (like prize money or most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously)

- Kvitova vs. Schiavone

- Paszek vs. Vinci = I'm predicting Paszek can get to the quarterfinals!

- Ivanovic vs. Azarenka

Be sure to keep posted!